Please support our Spacehive funding campaign for fox proof litter bins at Mountsfield Park. We want to make Mountsfield Park more welcoming and beautiful. Unfortunately foxes empty our old open style bins at night making Mountsfield Park untidy and unwelcoming. The Mountsfield Park urban foxes are naturally curious creatures, they investigate the bins looking for junk food and used nappies to use in their dens; unfortunately they don’t clear up after themselves. This means that in a public place, that only has the services of a park-keeper two days per week, litter, old food and bags of dog poo can be left strewn across the grass. This is not only unsightly but also a health hazard, especially to small children and also pet dogs.

Like this:

Earlier this week, we posted a request from the Police about an incident which took place in Mountsfield Park on Sunday 20 November 2016. Sadly this is now a murder investigation. More information can be found here.

Mountsfield Park is a community park which is much loved by the local residents who use it every day. The Friends of Mountsfield Park and the park users we represent are devastated by this dreadful news. We will help in any way we can, and urge anyone who is able to help the Police with their enquiries to come forward.

Please note the following:

The Police are appealing to find any witnesses who were in, or near to, Mountsfield Park between approximately 17:15hrs and 18:45hrs on Sunday, 20 November, and are keen to speak to anyone who may have seen or heard anything regarding an incident involving a man in the company of a child.

Officers will be conducting appeals at the park one week on from the incident on Sunday 27 November 2016

Anyone who can assist the investigation is asked to call the incident room on 020 8721 4868.

To give information anonymously Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org

We want a cafe in Mountsfield Park. We have been campaigning for a cafe for years, and have been promised one by Lewisham Council – including as part of the Council redevelopment of the park that created the Community Garden and revamped the play area. But the Council were unable to follow through on their plan to build a cafe at that time. Since then, we have worked with them to identify some funding – £50k – to launch a tender process to encourage an outside investor to build a cafe in the park.

A viable and attractive cafe plan is in front of Lewisham Council for approval right now – made by a local businessman who has worked closely with the Friends of Mountsfield Park. You can see the plans and some pictures of the new cafe here.

But the planning department at the Council is making unreasonable demands:

they are demanding that the new design have a ‘biodiverse living roof’ to replace what they claim is a living roof on the existing, abandoned container units. In fact, the current ‘living roof’ is around a dozen unmaintained planters. We have offered to move these and add them to the Community Garden, so there is no loss of natural habitat, but the Council says this isn’t good enough.

they are demanding that the new design meet the ‘BREEAM’ environmental rating of ‘exellent’, even though the Council was prepared to waive this requirement for the cafe they planned to build in Mountsfield Park! In other words, had the Council actually managed to deliver the cafe they promised in 2014, we would now have a cafe that didn’t meet these very high standards. The current proposal meets the ‘BREEAM’ environmental rating of ‘good’ with an aim to achieve ‘very good’. This means the current plans exceed mandatory standards by some margin.

If Lewisham Council turns down the current proposal – for what we think are spurious reasons – it could be years before another option is available and the money we fought to get the Council to commit to support the project – £50k – will be at risk.

We want the Council to take an intelligent approach, to look at the benefits a cafe would bring to Mountsfield Park: it will bring in revenue, encourage people to stay in the park longer and enjoy the Community Garden and play area, improve security by making the park more attractive to families, provide a place for dog walkers to get a cup of coffee, and it will mean that maintained toilet facilities are available in the park. These are far more important that a handful of planters!

We want a cafe. The park deserves a cafe. It needs functioning toilet facilities. A local businessman is willing to invest to create an amazing cafe. Short-sighted planning decisions shouldn’t stop it happening.